CAIRO - The Egyptian athletes are maintaining their lead in the medals table at the 2011 Arab Games in Qatar with 71 medals so far 31 golds, 23 silvers and 17 bronzes. Qatar are second with 40 medals, (15 golds, 10 silvers and 15 bronzes), while Tunisia are in third place with 23 medals (11 golds, five silvers and seven bronzes), Saudi Arabia are fourth with 21 medals (six golds, eight silvers and seven bronzes) and Morocco are in fifth place with 26 medals (six golds, five silvers and 15 bronzes). This is the first time for the Arab Games to be held in a Gulf country, with the participation of around 5,400 athletes from 21 Arab countries, after the withdrawal of Syria. Table tennis golds Egypt have won gold in both the women and men's table tennis competitions. The men beat Saudi Arabia 3-1 in the final, with el-Sayyed Lasheen stunning his Saudi counterpart Naief el-Gedei 13-11, 11-9, 11-13,11-6. In the women's competition, Egypt's Dina Mishrif defeated Tunisia's Safaa Sadani 5-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-9, 11-3, while Egypt's Sarah Hassan also beat Tunisia's Sarah Bin Ali el-Salmi, 9-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4. In the first round of the men's competition, the Egyptian team had defeated Morocco 3-0. Maged Ashour, the team's technical coach, said that the players dominated the match. "The Moroccans are a strong team, but we had the upper hand," stressed Ashour, pointing out that some very good players are competing in the Games, such as Qatar's Ahmed el-Mohanadi, Saudi Arabia's Abdel-Aziz al-Abaad and Kuwait's Ibrahim el-Hassan. Elsewhere in the first round, the UAE had defeated Bahrain 3-2 in a tough clash, while the Qataris stunned the Kuwaitis by the same scoreline.
Tunisian tennis triumph The Tunisian women's tennis team also snatched gold, defeating Egypt 2-0 in the final. The female Pharaohs had qualified for the semi-final by beating Kuwait 3-0, Iraq by the same scoreline and Morocco 2-1. They then beat Oman in the semis, having to settle for silver against the Tunisians.
Impressive arrows Egypt have dominated the archery competition, scooping six golds out of a possible nine. Fabulous Amira Mansour grabbed three golds in the women's 50m, 30m and 70m individual competitions respectively, while Hadi el-Kholousi snatched gold in the men's 50m individual competition. Saudi Arabia's Abdel-Aziz Mohamed el-Radwan won gold in the men's 50x2m individual competition, with Egypt's Ahmed Fakhry picking up the silver. In the women's 70m individual competition, Amira teammate Nada Kamel snatched silver and Morocco's Ebtissam Feranga bronze. In the women's 60m event, Nada claimed gold, while her teammate Aya Kamel secured silver and their teammate Hania Fouda cornered the bronze.
Two new handball records Egypt's handball team achieved two new records in their game against Sudan. The first record was an incredible scoreline of 26-0 in the Pharaohs' favour at half-time; the second was an incredible final score of 58-5. The Egyptian handball team, who have won the Arab Games title three times, had started their campaign with victory over Morocco, trouncing them 46-19. Their most dangerous handball rivals are Qatar, Bahrain and Tunisia. Indeed, the Pharaohs will meet with their Qatari counterparts on Saturday in the final game of the first round.
Shooting silver The Egyptian men's shooting team shot their way to second place and the silver medal with 1,634 points, narrowly squeezed out by the Saudi team who grabbed gold with 1,655; Oman weren't far behind the Pharaohs, claiming bronze with 1,604 points. The female Pharaohs grabbed first place and gold in the shooting competition on Tuesday, while the Saudi team came second and the Kuwaitis third. The Egyptian team included shooters Mohamed Abdel-Qader, Mohamed Hassan and Peter Suleiman. Hassan also grabbed gold in the 10m individual competition, while Saudi shooter Khaled el-Enzi snatched silver, as a Kuwaiti shooter blasted his way to the bronze medal. The Saudi team topped the shooting competition with a tally of ten medals (five golds, three silvers and two bronzes), as Egyptian shooters came in second place with tally of eight medals (three golds, four silvers and one bronze). The shooting competitions included 229 shooters from 21 countries chasing 38 gold medals.
Qatari basketballers advance The Qatar's men team yesterday booked their place in the second round of the basketball competition after beating their Saudi Arabia counterparts 79-57. Qatar top their group with 6 points, with Saudi Arabia second on 4 points and then Kuwait with 3 points. The Egyptian basketball team for men defeated Iraq 92-59 in the second game in the competition, with Egypt's playmaker Wael Badr man of the match. The Pharaohs' two victories have sent them hurtling into the second round.
Muscular medals Egypt's bodybuilder Mohamed el-Fadali snatched gold and first place in the U-80kg category, as Libyan bodybuilder Hussein Abdullah came second and Kuwaiti bodybuilder Jassem Hassan snatched bronze. Egypt's Mohamed Abdel-Reheim seized silver in the U-90kg, with Qatari bodybuilder Kamal Abdel-Rahman taking gold and Oman's Abdullah el-Rahbi muscling his way to a bronze.
Joy for the gymnasts Egyptian gymnast Mohamed el-Saharti grabbed the gold medal, the first for Egypt, in the individual competition, with 83.5 points, while his teammate Ashraf Moustafa came second and Algeria's Hilal Meteigi pounced on the bronze medal.
